Baseball in the land of Yao

A sport-loving nation Open almost any magazine or newspaper today, and China is sure to be mentioned, if not featured. Since reopening to the rest of the world in the late 1970s, China has developed at a rate unmatched by the history of any other nation. I live in Shenzhen, a city in the south of China, just an hour north of Hong Kong. Twenty-five years ago this city was a small fishing village. Fast-forward to 2008, and it has become China’s richest city, not to mention a production hub for many of China’s countless mass-produced goods, from fashion bags to digital cameras and LCD TVs. The ability of the Chinese people to catch up, so to speak, to foreign trends is remarkable. In the world of sports, the race to catch the West is becoming more evident. It is hard to flip through the Chinese TV channels these days and not catch a glimpse of a Rockets’ or Bucks’ game, or at least some NBA highlights. And the Olympics…well, people can debate all day ... (link)